Turumeke Harrington

Known primarily for her sculpture, installation and jewellery practice, Turumeke Harrington has recently started working with paint and whenua (earth) pigments on canvas. This painting comes from a particularly personal body of work made in 2026 following the death of one of the artist’s close friends. Harrington used whenua collected from Rakiura Stewart Island and scratched brick forms into the painting’s surface. The use of whenua and the scratching of the paint – a technique known as sgraffito – can be considered in relation to Māori grieving practices such as applying pigment to tūpāpaku and kōiwi before takihaka, and haehae, the practice of cutting the skin in grief.

Harrington’s titles often incorporate personal jokes and play on words that reference song lyrics, whakataukī, place names and pūrākau. Here she reminds us that there can be humour and beauty in times of grief and loss. The title of this work references the whakataukī 'Kaua e mate wheke, mata ururoa' (don't die like an octopus, die like a hammerhead shark), an acknowledgment of strength and dignity in death. It is reinforced by the use of the mangōpare kōwhaiwhai motif that dominates this work, also symbolising the hammerhead shark. Turumeke's application of paint and the kōwhaiwhai is loose and informal, while the rectangular forms are layered like whakapapa, breaking up the painting’s surface and creating portals into the past or another realm.

tūpāpaku deceased person’s body takihaka funeral, rites for the dead whakataukī proverb/s pūrākau ancestral narratives kōwhaiwhai painted scroll ornamentation commonly used on meeting house rafters whakapapa layers, genealogy, lineage